The invention generally relates to robotic and other sortation systems, and relates in particular to programmable motion control systems that are intended to be employed in changing environments requiring the motion control system to accommodate processing a variety of objects in both homogenous and heterogeneous arrangements.
Many order fulfillment operations achieve high efficiency by employing dynamic processes in which orders are picked from warehouse shelves and placed into bins that are sorted downstream. At the sorting stage individual articles are identified, and multi-article orders are consolidated into a single bin or shelf location so that they may be packed and then shipped to customers. The process of sorting these articles (or objects) has traditionally been done by hand. A human sorter picks an object from an incoming bin, finds the barcode on the object, scans the barcode with a handheld barcode scanner, determines from the scanned barcode the appropriate bin or shelf location for the object, and then places the object in the so-determined bin or shelf location where all objects for that order are placed.
Each object however, must be individually handled and processed, requiring that the programmable motion device accommodate a wide variety of objects of different sizes, shapes and weights. There remains a need therefore, for an object sortation and motion planning system for a programmable motion control system that is able to efficiently and effectively perform the automated sortation and handling of a variety of objects.